A British Reflection: the Relationship between Dante’s Comedy and the Italian Fascist Movement and Regime during the 1920s and 1930s with references to the Risorgimento. Keon Esky A thesis submitted in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. University of Sydney 2016 KEON ESKY Fig. 1 Raffaello Sanzio, ‘La Disputa’ (detail) 1510-11, Fresco - Stanza della Segnatura, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican. KEON ESKY ii I dedicate this thesis to my late father who would have wanted me to embark on such a journey, and to my partner who with patience and love has never stopped believing that I could do it. KEON ESKY iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis owes a debt of gratitude to many people in many different countries, and indeed continents. They have all contributed in various measures to the completion of this endeavour. However, this study is deeply indebted first and foremost to my supervisor Dr. Francesco Borghesi. Without his assistance throughout these many years, this thesis would not have been possible. For his support, patience, motivation, and vast knowledge I shall be forever thankful. He truly was my Virgil. Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank the whole Department of Italian Studies at the University of Sydney, who have patiently worked with me and assisted me when I needed it. My sincere thanks go to Dr. Rubino and the rest of the committees that in the years have formed the panel for the Annual Reviews for their insightful comments and encouragement, but equally for their firm questioning, which helped me widening the scope of my research and accept other perspectives. A special thanks goes to Professor Took for he was the source of inspiration that originally sparkled, many years ago, this project. I would also like to thank the many libraries around the world that have supported me with their help as well as those many others who were involved in the writing of this thesis. It would be impossible to name them all, but my most felt thanks still go to all of them. To my family for their constant spiritual support I am most grateful. Last but not least, a special thank you goes to my partner who has patiently and lovingly borne the brunt of many long hours that turned into days, months, and years of research. KEON ESKY iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS ……….....………………………………………………............vi ABBREVIATIONS ……….....………………………………………………........................viii INTRODUCTION ……………..…………………………………...…………………………... 1 1. INTRODUCTION ………..…………………………………...……………………………...1 1.I NATION ………..…………………………………...…………………………………….16 1.II BRITAIN AND ITALY ………..…………………………………...……………………….18 1.III LANGUAGE ………..…………………………………...……………………………….21 1. IV POPULAR DANTE ………..…………………………………...……………………….26 1.V BRITAIN ………..…………………………………...…………………………………...27 1.VI CONCLUSION ………..…………………………………...…………………………….29 CHAPTER I – THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAPTER .…………………………………………..................33 2. COMMON IMAGINATION .………...…………………………………………………….....35 3. FASCISM AND THE COMEDY……….....……………………………………………….....54 4. EMPIRE OF THE FUTURE ……………………..............................................................60 CHAPTER II – THE RISORGIMENTO AND THE COMEDY: FROM THE EARLY 1800S TO THE EARLY1900S 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAPTER ...….……………….……………………..................64 2. DANTE AND THE COMEDY IN BRITAIN ..………………………………………………….66 3. THE ISSUE OF UNITY – HISTORIOGRAPHICAL APPROACHES …………………………….82 3.I THE ISSUE OF UNITY – GROUPS OF INTERESTS ………………………………………...90 4. BRITISH INTERESTS …………………………………………………………………….100 5. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE COMEDY AND SECRET SOCIETIES …………………….110 KEON ESKY v CHAPTER III DANTE’S COMEDY AND ITALIAN FASCISM 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAPTER ….………………………………………................118 2. MODELS ……………………………………….....………….....................................122 2.i MODELS ..……………………...……………………………………………………....125 2.ii MODELS .…………………...………………………………………………………….135 3. FASCISM …...……………………...……………………………………………………137 4. COGNITIVE MAP..………………………………………………………………………..148 4.i COGNITIVE MAP..……………………………………………………..........................151 4.II COGNITIVE MAP: A CRITICAL ISSUE..………………………………...........................163 5. THE COMEDY ON A FASCIST SCHOOL DESK .………………………..........................176 6. THE SECRET COMEDY………………………….......................................................185 CHAPTER IV BRITAIN, THE COMEDY, AND FASCISM 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAPTER ..………...………………………………...............188 2. THE BRITISH CENTURY: FROM THE RISORGIMENTO TO FASCISM .…………………..189 3. A CENTURY TURNS ..……………...…………………………………………………...200 4. ENGLAND’S BEWILDERING COMEDY ..………………………………………………....209 5. ENGLAND IS NOT ITALY…………………………………............................................223 6. SPIRITUAL FOOD.……………………………………………………………………….250 CONCLUSIONS ……………………………………………………………………………..253 INDEX OF NAMES…………………………………………………………………………..261 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………………………….....277 KEON ESKY vi TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 RAFFAELLO SANZIO, ‘LA DISPUTA’ (DETAIL) 1510-11, FRESCO - STANZA DELLA SEGNATURA, PALAZZI PONTIFICI, VATICAN …………………………...……………………………………………………….....I FIG. 2 PALAZZO DELLA CIVILTÀ ITALIANA (PHOTO BY NICK KENRICK).……………………………………………………………………………………23 FIG. 3 MODENA: INFERNO OF DANTE, HER MAJESTY THEATRE PLAYBILL, 17 MAY 1839.……………………………………………………………………………………….106 FIG. 4 MARK TANSEY, LAND FALL, 2007....……………………………………………....211 FIG. 5 SANDRO BOTTICELLI, DIVINE COMEDY, PG XXVIII (DRAWING, 1485/90)……………………………..…………………………………………………....221 KEON ESKY vii ABBREVIATION FULL NAME Cv Convivio Ep Epistole If Inferno Mn Monarchia Pd Paradiso Pg Purgatorio VN Vita Nuova KEON ESKY viii Dante Philosopher, Patriot, and Poet 1 VINCENZO BOTTA Dante. He is the poet of liberty. Persecution, exile, the dread of a foreign grave […] 2 LORD BYRON INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction Dante completed what was seemingly his last work, doubtlessly his finest testament, the Commedia, and Florence came to regret Dante’s exile.3 Since then, it was the year 1321, a long line of claimants that stretches through more than seven centuries has sought, in one form or another, an affiliation with the illustrious fuggiasco4 and his masterpiece. Centuries later, a foreign power, namely Britain, took a keen interest in matters affecting the Mediterranean basin. By the middle of the nineteenth century, she had helped to create a new nation: Italy. By 1922 the young Italian Kingdom, as it was then, entered a new phase in its short history. Luigi Facta, the Prime Minister at the time, failed to convince King Victor Emmanuel III to sign the declaration of emergency while, in the midst of political turmoil, Benito Mussolini was threatening to take Rome by force. After a few uncertain hours, on 31 October 1922, the Liberal State, that which had helped give birth to the new Italian nation, plainly collapsed. The monarch had formally appointed his new Prime Minister. Benito Mussolini had risen to power. For the next twenty years, Italy was to be ruled by the Fascists. Thus, how did the Comedy, a medieval work of poetry, a mighty imperial power, and an early twentieth-century totalitarian ideology come to meet? This thesis explores the instrumentalisation of Dante’s Comedy in the process of 1 Vincenzo Botta, Dante as philosopher, patriot, and poet, with an analysis of the Divina Commedia, its plot and episodes (New York: Scribner, 1865), p. iii. 2 The Life, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, ed, by George Noël Gordon Byron (Baron Byron), Thomas Moore, Walter Scott, George Crabbe (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1860), p. 484. 3 Here for Dante, it is meant Durante degli Alighieri. Hereafter simply referred to as Dante. 4 Ugo Foscolo called Dante ‘il ghibellin fuggiasco’ in his Sepolcri. KEON ESKY 1 formation of a certain national identity as a necessary step to then afford the issue of its consequent reemployment, in a more imperialistic and renewed nationalistic fold, during the fascist era. It analyses what seemed an affiliation to the poet’s masterpiece not limiting the research to the plane of the creation of a notion of an Italian nation, but also critically seeking to understand, or at least expose, some of the balances of power that characterised that relationship. This study investigates the role that Great Britain5 had in aiding, encouraging, and in some cases, creating a sense of national unity conveyed through, albeit not exclusively, a medieval poet, Dante, and his most celebrated masterpiece: the Commedia. It looks at how the engagement with Dante’s Comedy interplayed during the Ventennio, the twenty years of fascist rule, and how the mediation of Britain, through the means of the Florentine poet, developed during those years. It also offers an extensive analysis of the Risorgimento period, as it considers it relevant in the context of the discourse elaborated here. When speaking of the engagement of the Comedy on behalf of the various agents that this thesis analyses – chiefly Britain and the Fascists but also the Catholic Church, secret societies, and so on - what it is meant is that Dante’s last work was used to render more concretely accessible ideas such as, for example, a unified nation of Italy with a shared glorious common history that would befit the imperialistic tones typical of a more Fascist concept of nation, which would have otherwise been either hypothetical or abstract for many in the Italian peninsula.6 In other words, Dante, but above all his Commedia, were called upon to symbolically support visions of certain